Policy: Reducing and managing waste

Issue

We generate about 177 million tonnes of waste every year in England alone. This is a poor use of resources and costs businesses and households money. It also causes environmental damage – for example, waste sent to landfill produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

We want to move towards a ‘zero waste economy’. This doesn’t mean that no waste exists – it’s a society where resources are fully valued, financially and environmentally. It means we reduce, reuse and recycle all we can, and throw things away only as a last resort.

The waste prevention programme for England

encourage businesses to contribute to a more sustainable economy by building waste reduction into design, offering alternative business models and delivering new and improved products and services

encourage a culture of valuing resources by making it easier for people and businesses to find out how to reduce their waste, to use products for longer, repair broken items, and enable reuse of items by others

help businesses recognise and act upon potential savings through better resource efficiency and preventing waste, to realise opportunities for growth

support action by central and local government, businesses and civil society to capitalise on these opportunities

In May 2014 the Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund was launched. This scheme is funded by Defra as part of the waste prevention programme. Grants will be awarded to partnerships with creative ideas for preventing waste. The fund will run for two years and grants will be awarded in three phases.

publishing a quality action plan which includes actions for government and others in the supply chain

Making businesses responsible for what they produce

The UK has laws that require some businesses to make sure that a proportion of what they sell is recovered and recycled. These producer responsibility regulations are based on EC legal requirements. They cover producers of:

We’re reviewing the way these producer responsibility regulations work to:

make them more effective

reduce the administrative burdens they place on business

As part of the review we have consulted on a number of suggested changes to bring coherence across the different producer responsibility regimes. A summary of responses will be available soon. We plan to consult on proposed changes in to the regimes in due course.

Developing more voluntary responsibility deals

Government have worked with businesses to develop new voluntary responsibility deals. This means businesses take responsibility for ensuring that a proportion of the goods they produce are recycled, and for reducing waste.

We’re reducing the unnecessary burden of regulation and enforcement on legitimate businesses, but targeting those who break the law or harm the environment. This is part of our wider work to reduce the burden of regulation on business. We’re doing this by:

Single-use plastic bag charging

We will introduce a 5p charge for single use plastic carrier bags, to come into effect in October 2015. The aim is to reduce the use of these bags to help protect the environment. We will encourage businesses to donate the proceeds from the charge to good causes.

Getting the right infrastructure in place to deal with waste

We aim to have the right infrastructure in place to deal with waste as efficiently as possible.

To meet this aim, we’re giving local authorities £3.5 billion in grants for waste infrastructure projects. We also provide guidance to help local authorities carry out these projects.

Dealing with waste crime

Waste crime includes fly-tipping, the operation of illegal waste management sites and the illegal export of waste. It can damage the environment and human health, cause pollution, and harm local neighbourhoods.

We’re taking a range of measures to deal with waste crime, including:

working with the Sentencing Council on a new sentencing guideline (see ‘Environmental Offences – Definitive Guideline’) for waste crimes which took effect from 1 July 2014

reviewing when the Environment Agency can refuse registration of a waste carrier or revoke the registration of an existing carrier

using police intelligence to identify people concerned with the illegal export of waste

An additional £5 million of funding for the enforcement of waste crime was announced in the 2014 Budget. This will increase the planned expenditure on waste crime enforcement in the financial year 2014 to 2015 by nearly 40%. The funding will help the Environment Agency to take on additional enforcement initiatives to tackle waste crime.

Disposing of tyres

Regulating landfill sites and landfill waste

Landfill sites are regulated via environmental permits issued to the operator. The design, operation, monitoring, closure and aftercare of landfill sites is subject to the requirements of the EU Landfill Directive and the Council Decision on Waste Acceptance Criteria.

Landfill should be the option of last resort for most waste, especially biodegradable and recyclable waste.

We continue to update our evidence on what goes into landfill and how we can reduce it cost effectively. Our latest research reports include studies into:

We have committed to reviewing landfill restrictions, including for textiles and food waste. However a good understanding of the data and waste streams is vital to making decisions. We are gathering evidence to consider if landfill restrictions are a cost effective way of managing this type of waste.

Recycling ships

Ship recycling is a global issue. Our policy on the environmentally sound management of ships is set out in the UK ship recycling strategy.

Background

Our policy is informed by the ‘waste hierarchy’: 5 steps for dealing with waste, ranked according to their environmental impact. These are set out in Article 4 of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC).

Waste prevention, which is the best option for the environment, is the highest priority, followed by preparing for re-use, recycling, other recovery and disposal.

The review of waste policy in England (2011) set out 13 commitments that will set us on the path towards a zero waste economy. It prioritises efforts to manage waste in line with the waste hierarchy and reduce the carbon impact of waste. We published a progress report on this work in 2012.

Bills and legislation

Who we’re working with

The Environment Agency has a range of responsibilities, including regulating waste management facilities, monitoring and enforcement issues, and licensing and monitoring waste movement (including exports).

Local authorities are responsible for household and business waste collection services, waste disposal, enforcing waste legislation, dealing with fly-tipping, and encouraging good waste management (eg recycling) in their areas.

The European Commission is currently reviewing its waste legislation to ensure that it is working efficiently. It is starting to develop its future policies on areas like recycling targets and waste prevention. The Commission held a consultation into this from June until September 2013. The UK government issued a formal response to this consultation in September 2013.